Cho, I. S., Križnik, B., & Hou, J. (Eds.). (2022). Emerging Civic Urbanisms in Asia: Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, and Taipei beyond Developmental Urbanization. Amsterdam University Press.
Department: Landscape Architecture
Rachel Berney and Jeff Hou contribute to new book on social justice in urban design
“Just Urban Design: The Struggle for a Public City” (MIT Press 2022) features a collection of chapters and case studies that apply a social justice lens to the design of urban environments. Sixteen contributors, including Rachel Berney of Urban Design & Planning and Jeff Hou of Landscape Architecture, examine topics ranging from single-family zoning and community capacity building to immigrant street vendors and the right to walk. The book is open-access and can be downloaded from MIT Press here.
Performative By-Products: The Emergence of Waste Reuse Strategies at the Blue Lagoon
De Almeida, Catherine. (2019). Performative By-Products: The Emergence of Waste Reuse Strategies at the Blue Lagoon. Journal of Landscape Architecture, 13(3), 64-77.
Abstract
Materials and landscapes associated with waste are perceived as objectionable. By reactivating and embracing waste conditions as desirable opportunities for diverse programmes rooted in economy, ecology, and culture, designers can form hybrid assemblages on waste sites through the exchange of waste materials—a landscape lifecycles approach. This frame-work is applicable to not only design research, but also as a critical lens for evaluating the landscape performance of existing projects that engage with waste reuse. The Blue Lagoon in southwest Iceland materialized as a spa industry out of geothermal waste effluent from the adjacent Svartsengi Geothermal Power Station, reusing undesirable materials and transforming a waste landscape through diversified material recovery strategies. Featuring an industrial by-product turned economic generator, this case study reveals the opportunities for reusing geothermal ‘waste’ in these emergent landscape conditions, which hybridize economies with recreation, research, and ecology, and shift the conventional relationship with waste from passive to performative.
Keywords
Waste reuse; Blue Lagoon; material lifecycles; Iceland; landscape reclamation
Evaluation Strategies on the Thermal Environmental Effectiveness of Street Canyon Clusters: A Case Study of Harbin, China
Li, Guanghao; Cheng, Qingqing; Zhan, Changhong; Yocom, Ken P. (2022). Evaluation Strategies on the Thermal Environmental Effectiveness of Street Canyon Clusters: A Case Study of Harbin, China. Sustainability, 14(20).
Abstract
Urban overheating significantly affects people's physical and mental health. The addition of street trees is an essential, economical, and effective means by which to mitigate urban heat and optimize the overall thermal environment. Focusing on typical street canyon clusters in Harbin, China, landscape morphology was quantified by streetscape interface measurements (sky view factor, tree view factor, and building view factor). Through ENVI-met simulations, the correlation mechanism between streetscape interface measurements and thermal environment was evaluated, and optimization methods for assessing the thermal environment of urban streets were proposed. The results revealed: (1) The thermal environment optimization efficiency of general street canyon types was greatest when street tree spacing was 12 m. At present, the smaller spacing has not been simulated and may yield better thermal environment results. The average decrease in temperature (Ta), relative humidity (RH) and mean radiant temperature (MRT) was 0.78%, 2.23%, and 30.20%, respectively. (2) Specific street canyon types should adopt precise control strategies of streetscape interface according to their types to achieve the optimal balance between thermal environment optimization and cost. (3) Streetscape interface measurements and thermal environment indexes show quadratic correlation characteristics, and are critical points for further investigation. The conclusions are more specific than previous research findings, which are of great significance for decreasing the urban heat island effect at the block scale, improving residents' physical and mental health, and improving the urban environment quality.
Keywords
Heat Mitigation Strategies; Urban Green Areas; Sky View Factor; Cold Region; Comfort; Tree; Landscape; Park; Simulation; Density; Street Canyon Clusters; Streetscape Interface Measurement; Envi-met Simulation; Thermal Optimization
Richard Haag: New Eyes for Old
Way, Thaisa. (2012). Richard Haag: New Eyes for Old. Sitelines: A Journal Of Place, 7(2), 6 – 8.
Versailles’s Very Own
Way, Thaisa. (2014). Versailles’s Very Own. Landscape Architecture, 104(1), 142 – 147.
Celina Balderas Guzmán
Celina Balderas Guzmán, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture. Dr. Balderas’ research spans environmental planning, design, and science and focuses on climate adaptation to sea level rise on the coast and urban stormwater inland. On the coast, her work demonstrates specific ways that the climate adaptation actions of humans and adaptation of ecosystems are interdependent. Her work explores how these interdependencies can be maladaptive by shifting vulnerabilities to other humans or non-humans, or synergistic. Using ecological modeling, she has explored these interdependencies focusing on coastal wetlands as nature-based solutions. Her work informs cross-sectoral adaptation planning at a regional scale.
Inland, Dr. Balderas studies urban stormwater through a social-ecological lens. Using data science and case studies, her work investigates the relationship between stormwater pollution and the social, urban form, and land cover characteristics of watersheds. In past research, she developed new typologies of stormwater wetlands based on lab testing in collaboration with environmental engineers. The designs closely integrated hydraulic performance, ecological potential, and recreational opportunities into one form.
Her research has been funded by major institutions such as the National Science Foundation, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, UC Berkeley, and the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab. She has a PhD in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, she obtained masters degrees in urban planning and urban design, as well as an undergraduate degree in architecture all from MIT.
College of Built Environments’ Research Restart Fund Awards Four Grants in First of Two Cycles
The College of Built Environments launched a funding opportunity for those whose research has been affected by the ongoing pandemic. The Research Restart Fund, with awards up to $5,000, has awarded 4 grants in its first of two cycles. A grant was awarded to Real Estate faculty member Arthur Acolin, who is partnering with the City of Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development to understand barriers that homeowners, particularly those with lower incomes, face to building Accessory Dwelling Units…
Physical and Mental Health Impacts of Household Gardens in an Urban Slum in Lima, Peru
Korn, Abigail; Bolton, Susan M.; Spencer, Benjamin; Alarcon, Jorge A.; Andrews, Leann; Voss, Joachim G. (2018). Physical and Mental Health Impacts of Household Gardens in an Urban Slum in Lima, Peru. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health, 15(8).
Abstract
Rural poverty and lack of access to education has led to urban migration and fed the constant growth of urban slums in Lima, Peru. Inhabitants of these informal settlements lack land rights and access to a public water supply, resulting in poor sanitation, an inability to grow food, and suboptimal health outcomes. A repeated measures longitudinal pilot study utilizing participatory design methods was conducted in Lima between September 2013 and September 2014 to determine the feasibility of implementing household gardens and the subsequent impact of increased green space on well-being. Anthropometric data and a composite of five validated mental health surveys were collected at the baseline, 6-months, and 12-months after garden construction. Significant increases from the baseline in all domains of quality of life, including: physical (p < 0.01), psychological (p = 0.05), social (p = 0.02), environmental (p = 0.02), and overall social capital (p < 0.01) were identified 12 months after garden construction. Life-threatening experiences decreased significantly compared to the baseline (p = 0.02). There were no significant changes in parent or partner empathy (p = 0.21), BMI (p = 0.95), waist circumference (p = 0.18), or blood pressure (p = 0.66) at 6 or 12 months. Improved access to green space in the form of a household garden can significantly improve mental health in an urban slum setting.
Keywords
Of-life Assessment; Psychometric Properties; Threatening Experiences; Vegetable Consumption; Developing-countries; Community Garden; Climate-change; Green Space; Poverty; Participation; Mental Health; Peru; Quality Of Life; Urban Slum; Social Capital
Is There a Limit to Bioretention Effectiveness? Evaluation of Stormwater Bioretention Treatment Using a Lumped Urban Ecohydrologic Model and Ecologically Based Design Criteria
Wright, Olivia M.; Istanbulluoglu, Erkan; Horner, Richard R.; Degasperi, Curtis L.; Simmonds, Jim. (2018). Is There a Limit to Bioretention Effectiveness? Evaluation of Stormwater Bioretention Treatment Using a Lumped Urban Ecohydrologic Model and Ecologically Based Design Criteria. Hydrological Processes, 32(15), 2318 – 2334.
Abstract
In this study, we developed the urban ecohydrology model (UEM) to investigate the role of bioretention on watershed water balance, runoff production, and streamflow variability. UEM partitions the land surface into pervious, impervious, and bioretention cell fractions. Soil moisture and vegetation dynamics are simulated in pervious areas and bioretention cells using a lumped ecohydrological approach. Bioretention cells receive runoff from a fraction of impervious areas. The model is calibrated in an urban headwater catchment near Seattle, WA, USA, using hourly weather data and streamflow observations for 3years. The calibrated model is first used to investigate the relationship between streamflow variability and bioretention cell size that receives runoff from different values of impervious area in the watershed. Streamflow variability is quantified by 2 indices, high pulse count (HPC), which quantifies the number of flow high pulses in a water year above a threshold, and high pulse range (HPR), which defines the time over which the pulses occurred. Low values of these indices are associated with improved stream health. The effectiveness of the modelled bioretention facilities are measured by their influence on reducing HPC and HPR and on flow duration curves in comparison with modelled fully forested conditions. We used UEM to examine the effectiveness of bioretention cells under rainfall regimes that are wetter and drier than the study area in an effort to understand linkages between the degree of urbanization, climate, and design bioretention cell size to improve inferred stream health conditions. In all model simulations, limits to the reduction of HPC and HPR indicators were reached as the size of bioretention cells grew. Bioretention was more effective as the rainfall regime gets drier. Results may guide bioretention design practices and future studies to explore climate change impacts on bioretention design and management.
Keywords
Performance Assessment; Hydrologic Alteration; Automated Techniques; Management-practices; Land-cover; Streams; Water; Impact; Area; Runoff; Bioretention; Ecohydrology; Green Infrastructure; Stormwater; Stream Health; Urban Hydrology; Evaluation; Urbanization; Watersheds; Soil Moisture; Water Balance; Stream Flow; Design; Variability; Ecological Monitoring; Computer Simulation; Storms; Climate Change; Duration; Water Runoff; Flow Duration Curves; Flow Duration; Cell Size; Soils; Duration Curves; Rainfall; Rivers; Cells; Headwaters; Surface Runoff; Dynamics; Rainfall Regime; Catchment Area; Design Criteria; Environmental Impact; Retention Basins; Soil Dynamics; Stream Discharge; Climatic Changes; Meteorological Data; Headwater Catchments